Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

Reunion: Part 3

Summary: Natasha was one to generally savor solitude, but it seemed that somehow Yelena, within a few short days together, was able to completely wreck that persona. OR Natasha reunites with Yelena about a week after they took down the Red Room together and they both struggle to try to navigate their new dynamics, wanting to be close but not quite knowing how.

   They spent the rest of their day together in peace, and Natasha had quickly come to the conclusion that she wanted to be there for every one of her sister's firsts from now on. Things had never felt so right in her entire life as they did with Yelena next to her and experiencing so many things alongside her.

She could almost fool herself into thinking that they were both just normal sisters living out in the middle of nowhere. Well... Normal sisters that had a lot of unsolved, hanging baggage and a weird relationship with touch between them, but normal sisters nonetheless.

However, as dreamy as their time together had been that day and as much as she could almost believe this fallacy that they both were perfectly normal, there were apparently some things that neither of them could escape. Especially when nighttime fell.

Natasha was shaken awake by a moving mass next to her in the bed, and Natasha's eyes widened as she took in the writhing and miserably shaking creature on the bed next to her.

To her horror, it appeared that Yelena seemed to be having a particularly violent nightmare.

The both of them had agreed to sleep in the bed together for the duration of Yelena's stay, which of course was not new to either one of them even now because they had spent time in a bed together during their time taking down the Red Room when they were waiting a night for Mason to meet them with the helicopter. Besides, there was really no other place to sleep except the roundabout seats surrounding the table, and that was so horridly uncomfortable that Natasha would never want to subject either one of them to sleeping there.

As Yelena's thrashing grew worse, Natasha quickly realized that she was most likely not going to wake from it on her own before the nightmare got much worse. So Natasha took in a tentative breath and hesitantly reached out to touch the blonde, her hand barely grazing Yelena's arm.

To her surprise, Yelena suddenly snapped awake, grabbing Natasha's wrist in a hold that could almost break it. Natasha let out a slight pained breath, shock gripping her but her reaction remaining steady as she just looked at the blonde. Yelena stared at her for a long moment before seeming to recognize her and remember where she was.

Yelena swiftly let go of her as quickly as she had grabbed on, and her eyes were filled with guilt as she looked away, rolling onto her back quickly and raising up to sit. She rubbed her face with her hands.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to do that," Yelena expressed, her voice thick with emotion as she tried to contain herself. Natasha sat up carefully next to the blonde, not wanting to crowd her but at the same time, not wanting to make her feel any more alone that Natasha was sure that she had to feel.

Natasha knew how it felt to wake up from a nightmare without any support. She had done it several times the past several nights since taking down the Red Room. It had taken a real toll on her, and she was honestly shocked that she had not had a nightmare here with Yelena this night.

She wished that she had been the one with the nightmare in some ways. At least then, she would be the one facing the demons and not Yelena, her perfect baby sister.

This perfect baby sister that she had absolutely no idea how to comfort right now.

Natasha took in a small breath, not knowing exactly what to say and feeling horribly inept in the face of this challenge she was dealing with. Natasha longed more than anything to be able to say something of use to the blonde, but she was not sure how far she could step before it was over the boundary for Yelena.